Sleepy Eye beats Silver 10-0

NEW ULM – Sleepy Eye VFW defeated New Ulm Silver 10-0 in five innings in the opening game of the Junior Upper Midwest Classic on Thursday.

But while it looked like a blowout at first glance, Sleepy Eye managed to cash in when it counted, scoring almost all of its runs after two outs.

“I was most impressed with our two-out hitting,” Sleepy Eye coach Dusty Mangen said. “I think in the one inning, we had four straight hits with two outs. We just did what we needed to do.”

Sleepy Eye out-hit Silver 7-6. Silver wasn’t able to come up with the big hit when it needed to while Sleepy Eye did it all game.

“They had two-strike, two-out hits, we just weren’t able to do it tonight,” New Ulm coach Preston Cowing said. “They were more disciplined than we were, the difference in hits is only one. They took advantage of their opportunities and we just weren’t able to do it tonight.”

Kasey Kuck took the loss for Silver. He allowed seven runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Koden Kosak earned the win for Sleepy Eye. He went the distance and allowed six hits.

Sleepy Eye got on the board first, scoring twice in the first inning. Jaden Mickelson and Jared Beltz scored with Austin Fischer and Dylan Klein each picking up an RBI.

Sleepy Eye added a single run in the second before scoring four more in the third inning. Alex Bruggeman’s two run-single with two outs scored Fischer and Klein. Bruggeman scored on Matt Mielke’s hit and Kosak singled in Mielke.

Sleepy Eye took advantage of some free passes in the fourth inning to grab the 10-0 lead. Nathan Schroepfer, Mielke and Kosak all had an RBI in the inning.

Mielke, Kosak and Bruggeman each had two RBIs for Sleepy Eye. Beltz, Fischer and Klein each scored two runs.